Cricket: The old one, two three

A Familiar question will beset Mike Atherton and the selectors when they sit down tomorrow to map out England's cricketing future. The Ashes are gone, but a winter tour of the West Indies, followed by a home series against South Africa, will present almost as serious a test of strength as the summer past, while the one-day tournament in Sharjah just before Christmas will mark the start of a separate, but equally significant, campaign primed for glorious conclusion in the World Cup final at Lord's on Sunday, 20 June 1999. Squads for the West Indies, for Sharjah and the A team tour to Kenya and Sri Lanka will be announced as a job lot on Tuesday, a roll-call of the nation's best cricketers.

At the head of a complex agenda will be the role of Alec Stewart in the Test side (stop me if you have heard this one before). On it depends the balance of the touring party and therefore of the A team as well. It is a wretchedly stale chestnut. Does Stewart return to his last Caribbean role as outfielder and opening batsman, with Jack Russell swapping paintbrush for gloves again, or continue as a wicket-keeper batsman, a dual responsibility which functioned adequately against New Zealand and Zimbabwe, less well against Glenn McGrath and the Australians?

Russell's presence limits the attacking options in the field, though a fit Darren Gough, Andy Caddick (in Oval rather than Old Trafford mode), Dean Headley and Dominic Cork, if his rehabiliation continues apace, is potentially as penetrative a quartet of fast bowlers as Atherton has had at his disposal in his 46 Tests as captain.

Asking Stewart to shoulder the double duties in such a draining series once again risks serious dilution of his batting talent on pitches and against bowlers well suited to his attacking style. For all Mark Butcher's promise, Atherton and Stewart remain England's most potent opening pair. Butcher will tour, but might find himself batting at No. 3, with Russell bolstering an all too fragile lower middle order and renewing his partnership with Phil Tufnell, one of the keys to a successful winter.

Otherwise, the selection of the senior side might be the least thorny of the lot. Mark Ramprakash and Adam Hollioake are the men in possession, drawing a convenient veil over the Warne-induced indignities of the last Test, and if raw talent is to be preferred to more stolid virtues, Ben Hollioake will be chosen at the expense - and to the bad luck - of Mark Ealham, who did little wrong during the Ashes Tests and will be rightly miffed at his demotion. The younger of the Hollioakes, who made his debut at Trent Bridge at the age of 19, could conceivably bat at No. 6 in the Test side; Ealham could not. Yet heaven knows what Brian Lara might make of Ben's energetic but naive fast-medium bowling on pitches reportedly favouring the batsman. England have plenty of bits-and-pieces merchants, but no international class all-rounder.

The surprise inclusion in the touring side could be Ashley Cowan, a tall, lean fast-medium bowler from Essex much admired by Graham Gooch, one of the selectors. Cowan only made his county debut in 1995 and has enjoyed a competent rather than spectacular sophomore season, with 46 wickets at an average of just over 25, but he is in the mould of Angus Fraser - the sort of miserly character coveted by Atherton. At 22, Cowan would certainly have more mileage in him than Devon Malcolm, who will find the low, sluggish pitches hard work. Sadly, we may finally have seen the last of Dev, his comic capers with the bat and increasingly rare moments of dynamism with the ball. It has been fun while it lasted.

In Atherton's absence, captaining the England side to Sharjah for the tournament will be a double-edged sword, a chance for a successor to stake his claim or be forever dubbed a one-day specialist. Adam Hollioake, who led Surrey to the Benson and Hedges Cup in his first season as a county captain, would be the most imaginative choice; Nasser Hussain or Ramprakash the more orthodox. Whoever takes over will probably resume the role for the five one-day internationals tagged on to the Test series and be earmarked to lead the team into the World Cup, along with a nucleus of galvanising one-day experts: Ronnie Irani, Ally Brown, Ashley Giles, Ben Hollioake and Ealham perhaps. Some or all might transfuse the touring side for the one-day series in the West Indies.

If John Crawley misses out on the tour, his consolation prize could be the captaincy of the A team. Nick Knight, Mark Alleyne and Matthew Maynard are other obvious candidates, Steve James and Dougie Brown the most deserving contenders for an all-expenses paid trip to Kenya and Sri Lanka. Empty coffee cups and full wastepaper bins by the end of the meeting, for sure.

My tour choices

West Indies

M A Atherton (Lancashire, capt)

M A.Butcher (Surrey)

A R Caddick (Somerset)

A P Cowan (Essex)

D G Cork (Derbyshire)

R D B Croft (Glamorgan)

D Gough (Yorkshire)

D W Headley (Kent)

A J Hollioake (Surrey)

B C Hollioake (Surrey)

N Hussain (Essex)

M R Ramprakash (Middlesex)

R C Russell (Gloucestershire)

A J Stewart (Surrey)

G P Thorpe (Surrey)

P C R Tufnell (Middx)

Sharjah

A J Hollioake (Surrey, capt)

A D Brown (Surrey)

A R Caddick (Somerset)

D G Cork (Derbyshire)

R D B Croft (Glamorgan)

M A Ealham (Kent)

A F Giles (Warwickshire)

D W Headley (Kent)

B C Hollioake (Surrey)

N Hussain (Essex)

R C Irani (Essex)

M R Ramprakash (Middlesex)

A J Stewart (Surrey)

G P Thorpe (Surrey)

England A: J P Crawley (Lancashire, capt), C J Adams (Derbyshire), D R Brown (Warwickshire), D A Cosker (Glamorgan), M P Dowman (Nottinghamshire), M A Ealham (Kent), A F Giles (Warwickshire), P M Hutchison (Yorkshire) S P James (Glamorgan), N V Knight (Warwickshire), D L Maddy (Leicestershire), J Ormond (Leicestershire), R J Rollins (Essex), O A Shah (Middlesex), C E W Silverwood (Yorkshire).